Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-02-14
Learning COntentment.

to his profession. But he, being hui
man, had weaknesses and fOibles and
was undeniably nervous. Sometimes,
it must be admitted, he'was irritable.
Noises interrupted the flow of his
meditations, and agents had joggled
more than one of his discourses into
ruins; nevertheless, he was good
man.
South Turkeyville was thriving
eastern railway center, said by some
of its admirers to be almost western
in its activity. Mr.. Browns church,
the orthodox, had the largest and
handsOmest meeting house in the vii
lage. Its spire was the tallest, its
bell the most expensive, and, thanks
to Mr.. Browns eXertiOns, it contain
ed the largest organ. The orthodox
fold contained the first families. They
gave literally to missions, spent six
hundred dollars year on choir,
|
monious people. Notwithstanding
all these happy conditions, Mr.. Brown
was at times decidedly discontented
and unhappy. These times came
usually the first of May, for the or
thodox church had no parsonage.
Given twelve hundred year, paid
casually, and with a certain per cent
of it left in non-interest- bearing
limbo, called "back salary" a man
finds twenty-five dollars month paid
promptly a burden. Moreover, NOV
ing is costly business. Oil-clOths and
curtains never fit. Stove-pipes have
a maddening tendency to come apart
and stay so, and the best-intentioned
drayman will sometimes set the sofa
on top of the china basket.
The Browns were refined New Eng
landers, with a large endowment of
the gift called ''faculty." The most
dreary old rattletrap of a house be-
came a cosy home under their man
agement. Flowers and grasses took
the place of weeds. SpOtless glass
took the place of old hats, and the
| premises soon wore the air of we'll
being which awakens in the alert
landlord the impression that he does
not ask enough rent. The cOnse-
| quence was that rise in rent drove
Mr.. Brown into discomfort and new
quarters every year. During May it
was expected that his shapely fingers
would be ornamented with linen band
ages and that he would preach old
sermons, while his wife would disap-
pear from public view altogether.
When, however, Mr.. Drown pre-
pared to move for the seventh time,
his irritation reached such a pitch
that he told the deacon that the
church must that year build parsOn-
age, or he would leave South Turkey
vile forever. Deacon Twitchell who
dreaded change, at once wrote no.
tice for a meeting to consider the
matter, and though Minadab Pettis,
the clerk, read with heavy emphasis
on the wrong words, as his habit
was, the people turned out with a
hearty goodwill.
There was no question of land.
Mr.. Flipper, the president of the
board of trustees, said there was
plenty of room behind the meeting
house for a parsonage. Mr.. Brown
said he did not like the location. The
house would of necessity face the
north, and would be quite shut up
from the afternoon sun. Moreover,
it would be devoid of shade on the
east, as well as exposed to all the
dust and smells of the alley.
Mr.. Twitchell, the conservative
deacon, was shocked and said that in
his opinion the proper place for a
pdISOudSc Was USSlIiC GhC NhOiACI,
and if that were not possible, behind
it. Mr.. Featherly, the little deacon,
said: eff anybody gave me house
to live in I wouldn't growl about the
spot, if it was healthy So the
question of situation was dropped.
Old Squire Bull, who owned a
whole oil we'll, besides sections of
several coal mines, but who had al
ways opposed building parsonage
on the ground of expense, surprised
every one by offering quantity of
old lumber. Deacon Twitchell, who
was putting plate-glass into the up
right part of his house, offered to
give his old windows. Mr.. Flipper
offered handsome supply of auction
gas-fxtures, and Deacon Featherly,
who was poor, and could ilI-afford it,
agreed to furnish all the paint for
the interior and put it on.
Before the week was over men
were digging the parsonage cellar,
and Mr.. and Mrs. Brown were strug- |
Cling to persuade the building com
mittee that light and closets were
even more essential than the great |
double parlor, planned, Deacon
Twitchell explained, for church So
cials. In spite of small annoyances,
those were happy days to the hus-
band and wife. With little Peter /
Paul, their darling only child, they |
watched ':our house" growing into
the air inch by inch with the keenest
delight, and debated, with never
tagging interest, how they would /
spend the three hundred a year it /
would save to them.